And, the Winner Is...

The person having the greatest Number
of [electoral] votes for President, shall be the President, if such
number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and
if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the
highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as
President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by
ballot, the President. - US Constitution, Amendment XII, Choosing the President, Vice
President (ratified 6/15/1804)

It takes 270 electoral votes to be
President of the United States. My trusty calculator and I are
having trouble coming up with 270 for Barack Obama.

Different states have different rules
for their Electors and how they vote for POTUS, but just going by
winner-takes-all on the highest vote-getter in each individual state,
Barack Obama has only 229 electoral votes. John McCain has either 97
or 100, depending on how you count, and “No” has 209.

There are approximately 225,000,000
persons of voting age in the United States. 28% voted for Obama, 25%
for McCain, 1% for other candidates, and 45% voted “No”.

A November 3 report from the National
Association of Secretaries of State listed 184,746,883 registered
voters in the US. 63,441,386 of them voted for Obama, 56,071,776 for
McCain, and 63,709,816 for “No”. North Dakota does not register
voters; Obama and McCain garnered 141,113 votes and 168,523 votes in
that state respectively. States which allow late or same-day
registrations benefit Obama and McCain in my calculations. For
example, Wyoming counted 13,188 more votes than registered voters as
of Oct 1, 2008.

The US government disenfranchised 99%
of Iraqis who voted for Saddam Hussein. 45% is nothing. Still, it
does seem odd to disregard one election because it's not free, and
then disregard another because it's free.

45% or 34%?

45%. Three states illustrate this
dramatically:

North Dakota does not require voter
registration. “No” votes are not counted in North Dakota, unless
the entire voting age population is considered.

As noted above, Wyoming counted 13,188
more votes than they had registrations (what a massive “get out the
vote” campaign they must have had). In our calculations, we
treated that as a -13,188 votes for “No”.

Oklahomans had a very simple choice:
Barack Obama or John McCain. No other votes were counted. Why
should a “No” voter register?

Are non-voters necessarily “No”
voters?

Absolutely! As Lysander Spooner
brilliantly noted, it is the nature of a secret ballot that no vote
can ever be verifiably counted “for” a candidate, but must
necessarily be against all other candidates. In other words, while
one could not verify that someone voted “for” non-voting, their
vote must be counted as against all other candidates, or “No.”

Does counting “No” votes change the
election?

Using only registered voters, a quorum
of 2/3 of the House of Representatives must now choose the President
from among Obama, McCain, and “No” (by a simple majority vote).
One can easily imagine amusing scenarios where the House does not
obtain a quorum, passes laws based on the 10-day rule for executive
veto, etc., but, it is likely that the Democratic majority in the
House would elect Barack Obama.

However, for reasons outlined above,
counting only registered “No” votes fails to be equal treatment.
Although an exhaustive study of all 50 states and District of
Columbia rules for eligible voters and Electoral College conduct
would have to be undergone, due to the wide margin of victory in the
nationwide popular vote it is probable that “No” would have at
least 270 Electoral votes, if not carry all 50 states.